


A Beast Leashed And Caged

by -TNKT- (TNKT)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Asphyxiation, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Captivity, Catatonia, Childhood Trauma, Claustrophobia, Collars, Dehumanization, Electrocution, Gen, Guilt, Gun Violence, Hurt Isaac Lahey, Hurt/Comfort, Involuntary Self-Harm, Kidnapping, Leashes, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Abuse, Protective Scott McCall (Teen Wolf), Psychological Trauma, Rescue Missions, Self-Harm, Torture, Werewolves, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:20:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26822053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TNKT/pseuds/-TNKT-
Summary: When Isaac departed from Beacon Hills with Chris Argent to deal with his grief far from Scott and the others, he hadn't known how dangerous it would be to live without a pack. He hadn't understood that being in a Hunter's good graces didn't necessarily mean he was safer. None of that matters anymore, however, because it's too late now. He can't do anything but beg and suffer through the burning pain and the humiliating jeers and the glinting grins.
Relationships: Isaac Lahey & Scott McCall
Comments: 12
Kudos: 44





	A Beast Leashed And Caged

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for season 3 finale of Teen Wolf.

Isaac was running late that evening and when he finally showed up at the park where he and Chris were supposed to join up, he noticed that the rendezvous point was devoid of any tall man with silver hair. That in and of itself was suspicious enough; Chris Argent wasn't one to miss a meeting. Isaac frowned when a faint but familiar scent of blood reached his sensitive nose. He told himself it was only slight concern he was feeling; he didn't worry about other people, especially not a hunter he'd only formed a strenuous and grief-driven link with. Said hunter was more than able to fend for himself anyway. 

Still, it would probably be better to go find the human just in case this smell meant he really needed help. Isaac would be pretty stranded if he ended up alone in this place he didn't yet know. He had no idea if there was another pack of werewolves in the area he'd be able to join when he'd just left Scott's, and it wasn't like Isaac had had to watch his back utterly on his own before. That, and... Chris understood the grief Isaac carried in his heart since Allison's death.

Isaac didn't have the time to comprehend the full extent of the trouble he was in when he realized that the strangers sitting on a bench ahead of him were getting up to follow his movement of departure. The thought that hit him full force when he saw the unmistakable glint of metal reflecting the luminescence of the nearest lamppost was, _Shit, they have guns._ He saw their smiles and shuddered because it was the one his dad used to have just before he'd grab Isaac, a predator's smile eager to hurt, and then the thought was, _Fuck, they know I'm a werewolf._

Isaac was alone. They were two hunters and he didn't have a way to know if they were as good at their craft as Chris was. His old pack was nowhere near him in terms of physical distance and Chris still hadn't shown up. In that moment an inkling of doubt brushed against the back of Isaac's mind but he didn't give it any attention because his senses were screaming at him that he was in danger, that this was probably more than he could handle. Isaac hesitated between attacking and fleeing, dread and fear rooting him to the spot for a second.

"This kid?" one of the men asked the other as they came closer.

"It's him all right."

"They just make'm younger and younger, huh."

"Why aren't you running, wolf? Don't you know what we are?"

Isaac backed up, his blood burning with icy dread. He was in deep shit. The men smiled as they both lifted their weapons in his direction and the sight of the dark barrels aimed at him finally jolted Isaac into action. Turning his back now would mean certain defeat, he wouldn't be able to flee fast enough before they shot him. All that was left was to hope these two men would die mangled before his wounds became too much to handle. Isaac leapt forward with a beastly roar as his skin receded beneath thick fur and his teeth sharpened into long fangs. The claws that had solidified in the place of his nails slashed through the air, two triggers were pulled at the same time. He felt one of his hands sink into flesh but his other shoulder was shot and the impact blasted his body to the side. Pain flooded Isaac but he snarled through it and his jaws snapped shut inches away from his prey's jugular. Another blow struck him across the face and then the cold muzzle of a gun pressed up against his flank.

"Sleep," hissed the hunter.

A sharp bolt ripped through Isaac's skin and pulled a yelp from his deformed lips. He jerked away from it but realized that the object was stuck _inside_ of him. The short moment of distraction earned him another hard strike in the temple and he wavered. The smell of blood was strong in his nose and reminded him that the thrum in his body was that of survival, and Isaac growled again and lashed out. His claws ripped through tendon and flesh and one of the men let out a harsh curse, but Isaac was shot again and nearly tripped over. Warmth dripped down his leg. He was getting woozy. He threw his clawed hand out again but his arm was heavy and the men were nowhere near him anymore.

"Get back, let the fucking thing tired itself out," spat one of the hunter.

Isaac shook his head to clear it and took another menacing step towards the two men, his sharp gaze honing onto the wounded one that was holding his bleeding arm close to his chest. His weapon had fallen to the ground. He'd be the easiest to kill. Isaac saw the other human lift up his weapon again and there was a whistling sound. Another bolt planted itself in Isaac's thigh and he stumbled with a growl of pain, uncooperative limbs giving out beneath him just before he crashed to the ground. Isaac gritted his teeth and dug his claws in the earth to push himself up, knowing that he couldn't stay down like this, that it made him vulnerable, but a heavy boot struck him across the face and he heavily fell back to the ground. Isaac blinked against the dirt as he slowly realized that he'd lost and that the legs that had appeared in front of him belonged to someone who was about to kill him. He sluggishly tried to crawl away but a heavy weight pinned him to the ground. Normally he would've been able to throw it off but his strength was gone, completely sapped by whatever they'd shot him with. Tranquilizers? It probably wasn't too loaded with Wolfsbane because it wasn't forcing him to stay in his non-human form- or maybe it was a species Scott and the others didn't yet know about. 

The pain and fatigue had made Isaac's claws retract and only blunt nails were left behind to grasp the dirt. Isaac raised glowless blue eyes at the man standing above him, afraid and powerless, and he knew from the sight of the gloating grin on the hunter's face that this man was just as ruthless as the rest of Chris Argent's family. Isaac knew he was fucked and he had an instant to instinctively reach out through his bond to seek help before a heavy object hit the back of his head and everything went dark.

"He's young. What, 16? 17? It's crazy how they look so inoffensive at first glance," a woman's voice was saying next to him.

Isaac's head lolled back and forth as he tried to rouse himself, letting out a low involuntary groan of pain when the action woke up his body. It suffused from two needling points at his flank and thigh, and then there was a spreading ache at his shoulder and finally a heavy rattling in his brain. His eyes fluttered open and widened with panic when he realized that his wrists and ankles were trapped against metal wiring at his back. His head snapped up and he winced, but the pain was quickly forgotten when he saw the three people in front of him.

"Hey, it woke up," drawled the man in the middle. He was the one that had kicked Isaac to the ground.

"We can see that, Juven," she drily answered.

The man with the injured arm who hadn't spoken yet pushed himself forward and the two others watched him step forth. Isaac easily deduced this was the leader and he felt a spike of smug pride that he'd probably injured the most experienced of all three hunters.

"Tell us where the rest of your pack is," the man curtly said. Nothing of his face betrayed the pain he had to be in from the deep slashes in his forearm.

Isaac had a moment to realize exactly what kind of shit he'd stumbled into. Derek had been through a hunter's method of interrogation before and Isaac suddenly wished they'd just killed him instead. He didn't answer because he didn't know what to say. Isaac was mouthy and cynical but he wasn't brazen, and telling these people to fuck off like Derek would have probably wasn't a good idea.

"Silence won't get you anywhere, mutt." The man gestured to the woman with a short nod. "Inga."

She leaned to the side and suddenly the wiring was burning him alive, and he knew exactly what it was because he'd already been electrocuted once before. It had been nearly fatal back then and he hadn't been conscious to feel it beyond the first few seconds. This time his body wasn't allowed to shut down and all Isaac could do was scream as his muscles convulsed through the agony that flooded his nerves. His sensitive hearing still caught the man's murmur mixed among his own howls.

"You'll talk soon enough." 

Isaac hadn't lasted long under the torture. The electricity had been bad enough on its own but then they'd started cutting him and he'd quickly devolved into whimpers and pleas for mercy. Nothing had ever prepared him for this kind of experience. Isaac had gotten beat up before but he was only familiar with his dad's abuse, which hadn't been so much about inflicting him as much pain as possible than it had been about teaching him a lesson. He'd never been bullied at school. He hadn't known this level of pain could be reached because of another's mere spite. They'd continued to wound him even after Isaac had given up the information, they wanted to make sure he wasn't lying.

The hunters had humiliated him, taunted him, laughed when he'd started crying and laughed louder when he'd begged for them to stop. Isaac had been helpless just like back then, like the times shards of glass would shower him and slice his skin, or fists would pummel him and he'd have bruises he could only try to hide as best as he could, or he'd get dragged and shoved around and never fight back because he feared the consequences and despite everything still loved his father; this pain was _worse_. Derek had promised him change. Derek had promised him a new life, a life given to him by the Bite where Isaac wouldn't be so powerless. But nothing had changed.

His breath whistled out of his throat in pitiful aborted wheezes as he hung limply from his wrists. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to blink. Blood trickled down the swollen cuts that littered his face, his body sang with suffering, the wiring burned against his skin even though the woman had turned it off a while ago. They'd let him hang there while they conferred together in the room next door, knowing but not caring that he could listen to everything they said. Isaac heard them mention Scott's name, Malia's, Lydia's, even Stiles'. Despair threatened to swallow him whole when he realized they'd even go after a human if it meant wiping out a pack and the guilt throbbed inside of him louder than the pain, because Isaac knew this was his fault, that they'd all be in trouble because he hadn't been able to keep his mouth shut. He'd screamed for help during the torture, had let Scott's name slip, and if his alpha's pack died because of this Isaac would never be forgiven- neither by Scott nor by himself.

Isaac tentatively tried to feel for his bond again. It had weakened when he'd left the pack but it was still there, thin and feeble. He knew Scott had sensed his distress because the alpha's side of the bond was tinged with worry and anger, but Isaac had no way of warning him of the danger and this just made his despair grow. He tried as best as he could to communicate to Scott that he had to get out of Beacon Hills before the hunters found them but had no idea if Scott understood this from simply reading Isaac's emotions. Chairs raked across the floor in the adjacent room and Isaac twitched in fear when he heard the footsteps come back. He could barely angle his head in the right position to see the hunters coming because of how painful each movement was. Juven was the one to come close while the two others just watched on.

"You wanna know what we're gonna do to you, pup?" asked the man with a grin that was threatening in how gleeful it was.

Isaac didn't move. He didn't make a sound and simply waited, afraid that making a single sound would set them off again but also unwilling to hear the answer. This wasn't the person he wanted to be, it wasn't the person he'd become, but his knowledge of abuse was intimate and he knew that complacency often made things easier. He wasn't hardened like Derek. He wasn't determined like Scott. He was just scared of suffering more.

"You gave up fast. Usually you animals have to be driven real close to death before you say anything worthwhile and all that's left to do is put you down, but you're still in good shape. So we thought you could be useful. Gotta make our weapons more efficient somehow, right?"

Isaac felt what little blood he had left in his face recede completely, leaving him dizzy at the prospect of becoming a hunter's test subject. He'd thought it would be over once they had what they wanted to know. He'd been scared of dying, had hoped someone would come save him, had wondered why the hell Chris still wasn't there and figured out that the hunter had probably sold him out to his colleagues as revenge for not protecting Allison, and in the end Isaac had thought that maybe he did deserve this for letting her die. But now he couldn't even think. Fear paralyzed him.

"Yeah," smiled Juven. "It's not gonna be fun for you, pup. But that's just the way things go."

Inga stepped over but Isaac couldn't see what she was holding in her hands.

"Well, you're gonna have the whole night to get used to the idea," Juven told him. "For now we're just gonna put you away until we get an idea of what we're gonna do exactly."

"Put... Me away...?" managed Isaac, eyes wide and fearful, his voice hoarse from screaming. He didn't like the sound of that one bit. It awoke an old familiar fear deep inside of him.

They didn't answer and Inga just pushed Juven to the side before shoving something thin and sharp in the tender skin of Isaac's throat. He let out a surprised grunt and jolted away but the cuffs cutting into his wrists didn't allow him to go far, and then a burning sensation forced its way under his skin and into his veins. Isaac tried to bite her hand to defend himself and his fangs snagged on her skin but she jerked her hand away before violently slapping him across the face.

Juven laughed. "Oh, bad idea, pup."

She stared coldly at Isaac. "You just don't know what's good for you."

Their leader didn't say anything from behind them but his eyes were dark and hateful. Isaac had injured two of the hunters now and he knew they'd want to take revenge. How much more suffering could they inflict on him before he died? He was scared. He was so scared. Derek had told him the kind of things hunters did to werewolves once they'd caught one and Isaac knew they'd barely even started with the electrocution and cutting. Isaac quickly blinked when he felt his body start to give up on him again, strength flagging, his head growing heavier. It was different from what had happened with the tranquilizers, this wasn't just to make him immobile; he was getting pulled under. Everything was spinning. Before Isaac could realize it the pain was gone and so was he.

The asphyxiating nausea clawing at his throat was what woke Isaac up the second time. It was dark but his enhanced eyesight could easily make out his surroundings, and that was why his heart immediately skipped a beat when he realized he was trapped. Walls encased him everywhere, too close, too small. He didn't want to be locked in like the time his dad used to shove him into the basement's broken freezer as punishment and leave him down there alone and cramped in the musty darkness, Isaac didn't want it, _never again_. His legs bunched beneath his body and he immediately lunged towards the only door of the narrow room they'd put him in. His body was brutally jerked back and he slumped, choking and hacking around the unfamiliar pressure on his neck. It wasn't nausea that had been choking him. Isaac was winded for a moment, unable to comprehend why he couldn't breathe correctly, until he finally brought trembling fingers up to his neck and felt the rigid fabric encasing it. A collar. The humiliation of being locked in and collared like an animal was nothing compared to the powerful smell of his own acrid fear that suddenly filled the small room. He was trapped. He was trapped, he was locked in, he couldn't even push against the door, he was _trapped, he couldn't breathe._

"LET ME OUT!" he screamed, his voice wretched and cracking.

His form changed out of his control, claws and teeth lengthening, muscles pulled taut beneath the too-small collar. He tasted metal on his tongue. _He couldn't breathe._

"LET ME OUT!"

He writhed wildly against his constraints, tried to pry the unforgiving circle away by slipping his claws beneath the collar, but it was too tight- had already been too tight in human form. It would be easier for Isaac to deal with if he calmed down but the collar was what was causing him to panic in the first place, the collar and this damn freezer that he _hated_ \- no, a room, not a freezer, not the freezer.

"HELP! HELP!"

He pulled on the chain that connected the collar to the wall but both extremities were well soldered in and Isaac's tugging only made the unyielding edge of it cut deeper into his skin. He threw himself against the closest wall in abject panic, punched it with all his might, desperately willed it to cave in, howled to be let out, and his words soon devolved into inhumane grunts. Isaac was nothing left of a wolf in that moment, just a trapped animal half-crazed from blinding fear. His shoulder screamed at him in pain from hitting the wall again and again but Isaac kept going. His claws scratched at the dense walls as uselessly as his blunt human nails had scrabbled at the freezer's lid back then, he was going insane, he needed _to get out_.

There was no telling how long Isaac fought against the steadfast walls to break them down or to at least widen this stifling space. Standing upright only made the box feel smaller. He was bleeding, the stench of his emotions was strong, he hadn't been cleaned up from when the electricity had forced the muscles of his bladder to lose control, he had new wounds that had appeared within the confines of his new prison, a heavy and aching throbbing had rooted itself in his head and blossomed on the spots of his body that he'd thrown against the solid surfaces encasing him. Fatigue was the only thing that stopped Isaac, fatigue and pain, and his legs gave out beneath him before he could even understand what was happening. He hit the ground hard and curled up, shaking, shuddering, whimpers escaping him as he laid there trying to make himself as small as possible. If he was smaller then the box would seem wider. 

But he couldn't breathe. It was dark. How long would he have to stay? How long was he being punished for? Isaac couldn't remember what had even made his dad punish him this time. Bad grades? It was almost always bad grades- that or arguing. Tremors wracked his body, he needed to find something to break, break and destroy so he'd be outside and could never get locked up again, and Isaac found something softer beneath his claws that ripped and gave out. Everything hurt. The smell of fresh blood hit him in a new wave and he buried his head against the cold gritty ground, quiet groans falling from his lips as he continued clawing at numb skin. His body was tense and his mind completely lost somewhere dark and cold, sometime old and fearful. Isaac couldn't stand existing like this but he couldn't stop it. He was trapped. Not for seconds, not for minutes, but for hours just like before even though he'd once believed none of this would never happen to him again. He was trapped. He couldn't stand it and he was trapped. 

* * *

They ran through the forest, a sense of urgency ringing out among the dark, crooked trees in the sound of thudding footsteps. Scott was enraged and he knew his entire pack could feel it. It was his anger that was spurring them all on to go faster, his haste to find the pained and missing shifter who'd been the first Beta of his pack. Their bond had been stretched thin when Isaac had taken the decision to leave with Allison's dad but it had never broken, and Scott was scared for his friend because the amount of distress he'd perceived on Isaac's end had been so extreme that it had strengthened their bond anew. Now Scott couldn't feel much of anything anymore; Isaac had numbed, somehow. Scott fervently hoped that it wasn't because they were too late. 

As snarky and remorseless as Isaac acted, Scott had seen his vulnerability. He knew they were both teens of the same age in the end, and Isaac's superhuman strength was just as remarkable as any other werewolf's, but Scott had quickly grown protective and even still felt particularly responsible for the other boy despite Isaac not being _his_ Beta anymore. Although Isaac's departure had undeniably pained Scott, it wasn't something he resented him for because he understood why Isaac had taken this decision. The overwhelming grief caused by Allison's death had changed something in his old packmate. 

It was her father who had warned the pack about what had happened earlier. The town Chris Argent had chosen to live in with Isaac hadn't been as safe as he'd thought it was; the hunters in that territory had a wider network and they'd soon learned who the two newcomers were. Chris had been called a traitor and beat up just before reaching his meeting point with Isaac that day.

"I'm going to get him back but I can't do it alone- wouldn't be able to even if I wasn't injured. We've worked well together before."

"Tell me where," Scott had said with no hesitation.

So Chris told him. "And watch your backs, they're after the pack. I don't think they know that Isaac's left you lot."

"Got it."

And so the pack had regrouped and departed to the location of the hunters' lair as soon as possible. They'd joined up with Chris Argent and left the car behind in favor of approaching the enemy on foot so they'd have the element of surprise. The hunters never saw them coming. Scott had smelled the blood on Chris even though it was obvious the man had cleaned up and he'd been able to tell from the hunter's gait that he was indeed injured, but that didn't stop him from giving his brethren a serious ass-kicking. Scott counted himself lucky that the human had managed to do some minimal reconnaissance because it would've been a lot more dangerous if they'd walked in this house without knowing just to what extent these three hunters were armed. 

Malia, Derek and Scott tore through flesh and bone while Chris and Lydia fought from afar, yelling warnings and instructions to the three shapeshifters so that their attacks would be more coordinated and efficient against their enemies. Malia was injured first, too wild and reckless to see the third gun pointed at her from the side in time. Scott caught sight of it at the last second and pushed her to the side, and fortunately the bullet only grazed her thigh. Still, it was laced with wolfsbane and she let out a growl of pain to which Scott and Derek echoed with a roar of fury. That was when the first hunter died mauled between Scott's fangs. 

There were more gunshots and whistling arrows, glass breaking, wood splitting, blood splattering on the ground. Malia's movements slowed but Scott urged her to keep going through their bond, they were almost there, they'd have what they needed to take care of her in this house. The last hunter standing was the one who'd shown himself to be the most cautious of the bunch.

"WHERE IS HE?" roared Scott.

The hunter's only answer was another spray of bullets in his and Malia's direction. Made sluggish by the poison, Malia tripped at his side and Scott threw himself down to protect her. Two impacts burned in his back.

"Shit," grunted Chris behind them.

"Scott!" shouted Lydia.

"I'm fine!" he yelled back, "Lydia, scream, now!"

Lydia's eyes widened for a second but then her lips tightened in a serious line and she gave a quick, decisive nod. Chris caught her movement and hastily ducked down and covered his ears, and both werewolves did the same in the exact same moment Lydia opened her mouth and shrieked. The hunter's body convulsed in surprise and his hands spasmed, dropping to the ground in the same position as Chris as he covered his ears. Scott gritted his teeth through the horrible noise and the agonizing pain spreading in his veins, holding Malia close, and then there was a loud gunshot and a feral growl. The banshee's cry stopped and deafening silence crashed on top of them all. 

"Nobody move," Chris all but whispered. He'd been the one to shoot. 

Lydia was still standing in the same spot. Derek slowly let go of the corpse in his hands, blood dripping from his mouth, ears pricked and body tense with caution. They stayed completely still and none of the hunters' bodies moved. 

"Okay, they're dead," declared Lydia, and she hurried towards the two wounded shapeshifters. "We have to help you guys, how do we help you guys?"

"On it," Chris quickly said.

Scott stifled a groan when he lifted himself off of Malia and he reached out to touch her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"It hurts and I feel weird," she resentfully spat at him, but her anger was clearly aimed towards the hunters. Derek was already next to them helping her sit up.

"There was a fourth one," Derek told them. "I could smell it on that last hunter."

Scott started to get to his feet. "Right, Malia can stay here. You go see if there's any sign of that fourth hunter coming back. I'm gonna go find-"

The world spun around him and he would've tipped over if Lydia hadn't been there to hold him up. "Hey, no. You're really injured."

"I gotta find Isaac," he muttered through the dizziness and nausea. "I can smell his blood, he's not far, he's hurt."

"We're going to but _first_ we need to get the wolfsbane out of your body, you bumbling idiot!" she reprimanded him with an insistent tug at his shoulders so he'd sit back down. Derek was already gone, obeying Scott's order in a second.

Chris came back in the room, his footsteps silent. "Cutting the bullets out will go fastest."

Lydia turned on him, horrified. "You are _not_ -"

"Lydia, it's fine," intervened Scott, and he looked at Chris. "Get it over with. Lydia will look after Malia."

Chris nodded and handed Lydia the supplies he'd found so that she'd treat Malia before kneeling down behind Scott. He pulled a blade out of one of his many pockets and then quickly looked around before picking up a piece of broken wood off the floor and offering it to him. "Bite down."

Scott took it without protesting. They both knew it would be reduced to splinters between his teeth in a moment but it was better than nothing. Chris settled in place, and after that it was only brilliant pain and flashes of red surging behind Scott's eyelids, grunts, warmth trickling down his back and sweat pearling at his forehead. The girls didn't look, busying themselves with Malia's dark wound.

Scott breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he felt the sources of wolfsbane were gone from his body and he hastily got back to his feet to get to Isaac, still whoozy but better enough that he could stand. Chris followed him through the doorway on their left as Scott tracked the heavy sweet scent of Isaac's blood tinged with stale, acrid despair. It prickled at his nose like vinegar, the mixture bittersweet and almost sickening. Still Isaac's bond was numb, curled up like a dried leaf, and Scott feared what they'd find. It should've changed when Isaac had heard the fight happening nearby, his bond should've reacted and gotten at least tinged with fear if not with hope, but nothing had happened. A sense of foreboding tickled Scott's nape. The blood he was scenting was fresh. Had the hunters tortured the Beta again before his pack had arrived? Was it wolfsbane that had prevented him from healing? 

They reached the room that smelled strongest of sweat and urine and suffering. Scott noticed a square of familiar metal mesh standing off to the side of the room, the table in the corner where diverse tools were lined up, and he quickly turned his gaze away from the instruments of torture but that didn't stop the anger from rising anew along with a rush of protectiveness. He needed to find the Beta, and fast. The trail led him out of that terrible room, down some stairs, deeper into the house. His gaze roamed across the doors lining the walls and dread gripped him when he saw a puddle of blood gathering beneath one, his body moving before he even thought to. 

"Isaac!" Scott called out, claws drawn to destroy the bolted lock. The metal burned and he hissed and jerked his hand back.

"Silver," observed Chris.

Scott snarled in frustration and pounded on the door. "Isaac, are you in there?"

He didn't hear any movement from beyond the door. 

"Move," steadily said Chris at his side. Scott threw him a look and then hastily side-stepped and the hunter shot at the lock three times. Scott immediately tore the door open and rushed inside.

"Shit," said Chris at his back.

The smell was the first thing to hit Scott, fear so dense that for a moment it was all he could sense. Then the sweetness of blood reached him, the stench of waste, the salt of tears. He noticed the size of the room- _too small_. His gaze fell to the curled shape on the ground and he dropped to his knees next to it.

"Isaac? Isaac! Hey, are you okay?"

He remembered smelling this kind of fear the first time he'd seen the consequences of Isaac getting locked up in a small space, only back then it had made the Beta completely feral and fresh panic had been rolling off his body in waves. The smell of it was stale now, probably hours old. Isaac didn't react. His blunt nails were latched onto the glistening inside of his arm where muscle and tendon had been scraped raw. His grip, while tense, seemed completely mindless. The blue eyes were open but deadened and for one irrational second Scott feared the worst, until he made out the shallow rise and fall of Isaac's chest. He cautiously leaned in and settled light fingers against Isaac's hunched shoulder.

"Isaac?"

Isaac let out a miserable groan, so soft that it was almost a whimper, and Scott was unable to tell if it was denial or pain that was communicated in the wretched sound. He allowed his grip to become firmer and tugged on Isaac's shoulder.

"Isaac. It's me, it's Scott. We came to get you out."

Isaac still didn't say anything and his body somehow shrunk even more like he wanted to hide into the floor. In shifting, his shoulders moved and Scott saw the thing wrapped around his Beta's neck. A goddamn collar.

"Shit," Chris swore again, louder this time.

Scott immediately tried to cut it off but it wouldn't yield beneath his claws, and he ragingly turned on Chris. "Get the damn thing off him! It's a hunter's sick contraption, you've got to know how this works!"

"On it, just wait, I'll find-" Chris didn't finish his sentence and rushed off in an uncharacteristic display of haste.

Scott turned back to his unreactive friend and reached out to touch his face with the intention of turning his head so that their gazes would meet, however black sinuous trails of pain shot up Scott's arm as soon as his fingers brushed against the cold, clammy skin. Isaac was hurting everywhere. Scott's gesture involuntarily brought the other werewolf physical relief, and the surprise of it made Isaac flinch back. Something flickered back to life in his blue eyes.

"Hey, Isaac, steady." Scott held his shoulder again. "It's me, it's Scott."

A frown slowly appeared on Isaac's slack features and he squinted as if only just noticing the light that had flooded the room. Scott could tell Isaac was probably in some kind of shock judging how cold and dazed he seemed to be.

"We came to get you," he repeated, trying to sound as reassuring as he could. The truth was that Scott was glad that Isaac wasn't gravely injured or worse, dead, but he was very worried by the state he was in right now- both mental and physical. 

Isaac's gaze suddenly shot up to the wide open door. His eyes widened, his muscles tensed, and then he lunged past Scott who was still slow from the lingering remains of wolfsbane in his system and didn't have time to hold him back. The chain went taught, the collar pulled Isaac back, and he went down in coughs and hacks and frantic whines. Isaac had snapped back into consciousness but so had his feelings, and their potent smell nearly choked Scott. He quickly latched an arm around Isaac so he'd stop trying to push against his restraints- blood had started trickling from the dark bruises Scott could make out beneath the band of fabric- and held him down just like he had months ago, when Isaac had been unable to control his fear in the school's storage room.

"Isaac, Isaac! _Stop!_ "

The command of the Alpha rang out in the cramped space and Isaac stilled. His heart was beating a frenzied dance beneath Scott's palm, his clothes were damp with sweat, his hunched body was trembling and the dark curls of his hair were plastered against his pale face. Scott had rarely seen him with pupils so dilated. Isaac had calmed down but he was visibly confused and absolutely terrified.

"You have a collar on," Scott firmly told him. "Chris is going to find a way to take it off."

Isaac rapidly blinked and then murmured in a cracked voice: "They're going to- They want to kill you! He told them- Scott, you're in danger, you're all in danger, you can't trust Chris!"

"The hunters are dead," declared Scott. "Chris helped us find you."

Isaac stared, his lips parted in dumbfounded silence. It was obvious he couldn't compute everything in his state.

"Look, it doesn't matter. All that counts right now is that you're safe," stated Scott.

"They want to kill you," repeated Isaac, sounding more lost than ever. His hand moved to the collar and absent-mindedly started pulling at it.

"We killed them. They can't do anything anymore. We're all safe." Scott frowned and touched Isaac's hand. "Don't do that, Chris will take it off in a moment."

Isaac shook his head in a small, half-aborted gesture and started scratching at his throat. "Can't breathe."

"You can breathe," Scott assured him. "The door's open now, see? You're not locked up. You've been breathing the whole time."

"It's too tight," insisted Isaac, and Scott knew he was right. The only reason he could see the bruises it had left behind was because Isaac had jerked it so violently that it had shifted when he'd tried to escape this room. Scott hadn't been able to slip a single claw beneath it earlier, there was little to no give. He wondered what the hell was taking Chris so long and grasped Isaac's wrist.

"Isaac, _stop._ "

Again, Isaac obeyed, but this time he recoiled from Scott like he was afraid to get hit. It made Scott's heart clench painfully. Isaac had always been the kind of packmate whose very first reaction was to flinch and cower whenever Scott used the voice.

"I'm not angry at you, okay? I just don't want you to hurt yourself more. In fact you know what, I'm going to take some pain away," decided Scott.

Isaac didn't say anything so Scott started siphoning the black pain out of his body and into his own. The pain was somehow stronger now that Isaac was more reactive and Scott was certain that whatever had caused their bond to go so numb was psychological rather than caused by a poison. The pain Scott took upon himself came from the chafing of the collar against Isaac's skin, the raw throbbing of the open wounds on his arms that had yet to heal, the sharp pain of the cuts that littered his torso beneath his soiled T-shirt, the phantom sensation of aftershocks and the deep pervasive ache of weary muscles that had been forced to contract far too intensely for far too long. Scott knew that it was only because of wolfsbane that Isaac still hadn't healed when he'd been held hostage for hours, and he knew that all this pain had been ten times worse just a while ago. This was what they risked as werewolves. This was part of the dangers of living as they did. They all knew it, but it wouldn't make it easier on any of them to know that Isaac had been aware of this when he'd chosen to leave the pack and go out in the world with Chris Argent as his sole company.

Isaac started relaxing as the pain ebbed into Scott, obviously despite himself because he seemed surprised when his body listed to the side. Scott quickly grabbed him with a steadying hand.

"Thank you for coming to get me," murmured Isaac.

"Yeah, no problem. Of course we weren't going to leave you here."

"I'm not... I'm not part of the pack anymore, though."

Scott smiled at him. "You are to me. You still haven't found another pack, right?"

Isaac ducked his head, ashamed. "I betrayed you. I told them everything. You could all have died because of me."

"Hey, hey, it's okay. They made you go through a lot and I don't blame you for giving in, that's kind of the whole point of torture. It's not your fault. Plus, we're all fine."

Isaac sluggishly nodded but his gaze remained stuck to the ground. His shoulders were trembling as he forced them to remain in that same hunched, wary position. If he'd been in his wolf form Scott was pretty sure his ears would've been plastered to the back of his head. He scooted to the Beta's side and reached out again, this time gently tugging him closer. Isaac must've been completely exhausted now that his pain was gone because the simple force applied to the side of his head nearly toppled him over and he landed against Scott's side with a muffled "oof".

"We're all fine," repeated Scott. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, you were so scared and I wasn't there to help you."

"I'm the one who left," quietly said Isaac.

Scott was silent for a while, and then he said: "I understand why you did it. I miss Allison too. It still hurts... It hurts every day."

Silence. Isaac was leaning against Scott completely now, too worn out to hold himself up.

"I'm glad you're alive, Isaac. It's fine that you don't want to come back but don't think I'll just stop caring now that you left. Okay?"

Isaac's nod was hesitant and timid, at complete odds with his usual cocky demeanor. It didn't surprise Scott in the slightest. He'd half-expected Isaac not to understand even after all this time that he did have people who were there for him, now, and that was fine. Isaac would believe it eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey pumpkin!  
> I wrote this for the Whump Charity Zine, a multifandom project meant to raise some money for the COVID-19 Response Fund, and now I'm allowed to post it! I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> I hesitated between writing for a big popular fandom or the Detroit: Become Human one I'm currently in (and have been for a little over a year), and since everyone else was going for the huge fandoms, I thought I'd do one for which I read many delicious angsty fics back in the day. I don't remember why exactly I chose Teen Wolf because gods know there are a lot of fandoms that could apply.
> 
> I couldn't not choose Isaac as the main character. I love him, okay. He has wonderful scenes in the original content that just _fuels_ my whumper imagination.
> 
> Thanks for reading, leave a comment if you feel like it!


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